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Walkabout

Nic Roeg's first film as a solo director is set in the Australian outback where upper crust English children Jenny Agutter and Lucien John are abandoned by their father. The possibility of their survival looks bleak (if only it were possible to eat the plum in one's mouth) until an aboriginal boy provides the means to stay alive.

Walkabout has many themes which intermingle in a rich and mysterious tapestry: the confrontation of conflicting cultures; the desert as a place of mystical power; sexual awakening, and death. Central in all this is the relationship between Agutter and the aboriginal boy, touchingly detailed, but always underlined by a sometimes uncomfortable psychological tension (and sense of distrust on the behalf of the girl).

As usual, Roeg is adventurous in his use of editing (see the sequence where the aboriginal boy dances outside shack) and the photography is absolutely stunning, making full use of the vivid colours and forms of such a distinctive and unique landscape.

Distinguished by some genuinely inventive and beautiful use of imagery.

Review by Iain Harral
Taken from EUFS Programme 1995-96